For P-Day, we went over to Monterey to have a Tri-Zone P-day with the Monterey and Santa Cruz Zone! They wanted to play volleyball before the transfer ended. Before going up to the chapel, me and Elder Isaacson went up to Lovers Point! It was a pretty view right next to the coast: we were able to climb up the rocks and stuff! Afterwards, we went up to the Seaside Chapel to play some volleyball! It was fun being able to catch up with some of the missionaries I had served with before!
After finishing up in Seaside, we headed back over to Hollister to call our families and finish up the day! We went shopping and tried visiting a couple of our friends; we had some success! After, Arturo let us know that his talk with Juan and Dora went well! Apparently, he had invited Juan and Dora over to have dinner, and he talked to them about the church! He bore his testimony on his conversion and how the church has changed his life! He also explained to them the importance of praying and acting upon your faith! He really helped them out! It was pretty cool that he was able to teach a lesson without us even being there!
Thursday was pretty slow! We began the day by finding a migration camp near Hollister! Not many people were home, but we were able to teach a nice, but not interested, man named Moises about the Book of Mormon and the Atonement of Jesus Christ! After trying to visit a couple more people, Elder Isaacson had to go do an interview for one of the friends that the English Elders had been teaching! She didn't know much, but Elder Isaacson passed her since she had the desire to continue learning and growing in the church! After the interview and daily contact, we had a post-baptism lesson with Diego! We read Helaman 14 with him and explained to him the life and mortal ministry of Jesus Christ and his Atonement; we re-explained to him the fall of Adam and Eve and the importance of Jesus Christ, repentance, and the resurrection. We talked with Diego for a while about a bunch of random things that he was going through with his work and family haha, but it was a good conversation! Diego is awesome and he is progressing nicely! After teaching Diego, we went and found a couple more people! We ended the night by having sports night and playing volleyball!
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Friday was another pretty slow day; we began the day by trying to find a couple more people, but none of them were interested sadly. We walked around for a while knocking doors, but nothing came from it haha; today was a super slow day, unfortunately. We were able to talk with Perla about the Sacrament and why we go to church every single Sunday. We also briefly went over covenants and the reasons we need to make and keep covenants with God! We also explained how the Priesthood allows us to make these covenants through the ordinances of the Gospel. After Perla, we went over to the Lepe Martinez family and talked with them for a while about their lives and their work; after, we showed them a video of the Kingdoms of Glory and how the Gospel/Doctrine of Jesus Christ allows us to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. We are still trying to help her understand the importance of the covenant of baptism, but we are taking it slowly with them. Martha has a lot of potential to progress, but we are going to take it slowly and not teach her all at once!
On Saturday, we began the day by participating in a Large Service project! One of the members of the branch named Tom Olsen, who sadly has dementia, had a large tree growing over his house! It was getting in the way of his power lines, so it had to be cut down before it interfered with his electricity, Wifi, etc. President Starkweather's father has a commercial painting company, so he was able to bring a lift to cut the tree; President Starkweather's dad was going to town on that tree haha: he had a long chain saw so he was able to cut down the tree pretty easily; It took a couple hours for him to cut down the tree since it was so large! We were able to help him pull down and carry the branches that fell from the tree haha! After cutting down the tree to the stump, we cut up the branches to smaller pieces so that they could be loaded up into Hermano Montuy's truck easily! After helping clean and organize the branches from the tree (it was a lot of work, but we were able to get it done), we headed back to the apartment to shower and get ready for the day!
Afterwards, we had a long but productive lesson with Daniel! We explained to him the Doctrine of Christ and read 2 Nephi 31 with him! He understands the importance of faith, repentance, and baptism pretty well! He's just not entirely convinced that it's necessary to be baptized in our church! We explained to him the importance of Priesthood authority and the Restoration! We did explain to him the importance of receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and being sanctified by the Spirit! Afterwards, Diego was able to come and help us explain the Sacrament to Daniel! We read 3 Nephi 18 with him to help him further understand the Sacrament! We also taught him about the importance of making and keeping covenants and how the Sacrament allows us to renew those covenants! Diego bore his testimony on his baptism, and we invited him to come to church the following day! Daniel is kinda losing interest sadly; we might have to drop him soon and hope he can come back to the gospel one day! We'll see though.
After teaching Daniel, we went and tried to contact a couple people but none of them were home! We ended the night by visiting the Lepe Martinez family and talking about what living in Mexico is like! It's a different lifestyle over there! He told us that México is cheaper but lacks work; he also told us how people in México are more family oriented (which is true) and how neighbors are more willing to spend time with one another! He also explained to us how they buy their groceries in small batches every day while we buy ours in large batches every once in a while! It was cool getting a different perspective on what living in a foreign country is like!
On Sunday we began the day by having Branch Council! It began at 7:30 in the morning so we got up bright and early! We talked about the needs of the branch and counseled with one another! We had an ok Sunday; Juan and Dora were able to come! We tried getting more people to church but none of them were able to come 😔; Diego had to take his sister up to Freemont, so he wasn't able to come. After church, we went and did the Sacrament for Tom Olsen and his son Willie! After taking the sacrament, Willie asked us why we chose to serve missions! It kinda caught me off guard but it had me thinking because of how long I had been a missionary for! I explained how I didn't really want to come on a mission, but I knew it was something I should do! I also explained to him the pressure one gets from needing to serve a mission, especially in the church, and how I didn't want to let anyone down! I also included how I wanted to come out here and gain a testimony for myself! After being a missionary for almost 20 months, I can confidently say that a mission has definitely been worth it! The mission DEFINITELY has not been the best time of my life but the best THING for my life! I've been able to meet so many amazing people and I have had so many amazing experiences! I've experienced things that have changed my life forever and the mission has allowed me to not only gain a testimony, but so many other things that I would have not gained without it (such as gratitude and how blessed I am)! It truly has been a miserable but an amazing and humbling experience at the same time!
After finishing the Sacrament, we went back to the apartment to prepare for the day! We went and contacted a couple people before heading up to the Larsons for our dinner! Me and Elder Isaacson were stressing the whole time haha! We had no idea why he wanted to have dinner with us! While driving up, we saw a Kingdom Hall and put a Book of Mormon by it 🤣! After stressing the whole ride up to San Jose, it was finally time to eat with the Larsons! When we got there, the Larsons were finishing up transfer news! The APs were there as well so we talked to them for a second! While they were finishing up the transfer roster, we helped prepare the food! Me and Elder Isaacson were stressed the whole time because we had no idea what was about to happen. After they finished, we had our dinner and it actually went really well! We talked about our missionary experiences and what we have learned! We also talked about the mission and how it was going, the new missionaries coming in, what President Larson did before becoming a mission president (he was a programmer who created websites where kids could learn English for free), what they like to do in their free time, our families and a bunch of other things! After talking with them for a while, President Larson explained why they had invited us over! He told us that after meeting with Elder Bednar, he felt inspired to invite us over to let us know how much not only he and Sister Larson love us, but that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us as well! He basically wanted to let us know how loved we were and how important we were out here as missionaries and as sons as Gods! For some reason, President Larson felt that we weren't feeling loved out here for some reason (which we weren't feeling at all) but it was super nice of them regardless!
Afterwards, Sister Larson asked us if President Larson could give us blessings! So, this was the first blessing I had gotten since being set apart as a missionary! It was a really good blessing, and I definitely heard and felt the things that I needed to hear and feel! Elder Isaacson also got a blessing as well! Before leaving, President Larson let us know that we would be staying together for one more transfer! Me and Elder Isaacson were pumped to hear that! We ended the day by heading back to Hollister and ending there!
Monday was supposed to be our P-day, but since me and Elder Isaacson were staying together, we decided to work today so that we wouldn't have to do a 10-day work week! We began the day by finding and trying to contact a couple of people! After finishing daily contact, we went and visited a friend of Arturos named Chris! The night before, Arturo sent a text to the branch group chat asking if anyone in the branch could check on him! Chris is a 72-year-old man who experiences pretty serious diabetes; because of that, he's practically bound to his house. He's a pretty bad hoarder and his house is in pretty rough shape! Arturo has been able to go over and help cut his grass for him! Well, me and Elder Isaacson felt inspired to go over and introduce ourselves to him! Chris was a super nice guy! We were able to talk to him outside of his house for a while about his life, how he knows Arturo, his background with religion, and a bunch of other random things! We were able to explain to him the church and the Restoration, but he wasn't too interested in the church in all honesty; he really just needed someone to listen and talk to him for a while; Chris is always by himself, and he never has anyone to talk to him! I'm glad we were able to help him out! We may not have been able to teach him a lot, but we were able to help him out in another way; by being his friend and giving him someone to talk to!
Missionary work is a lot more than teaching and preaching the gospel 24/7! A lot of times, you have to meet people where they are and nurture them in any way! After our long conversation with Chris, Elder Isaacson needed a haircut so we went to the church so that Sister Nosack could give him a haircut! While he was getting a haircut, I just called and texted a bunch of people! After, we visited our friend Irma and explained to her the Restoration! We invited her to read the pamphlet and study more about the story of Joseph Smith! After Irma, we went and had dinner with Hermana Kratzer, Laura Gladys, and her family! Sister Kratzer brought one of the English friends, who lives in a RV home, named Terry over for dinner as well. Terry has been investigating the church but HE refuses to read in the Book of Mormon or get baptized 🤣; he says he'll listen to them and that he loves coming to our church because we have a certain "glow" to us but that be already knows everything he needs to know and that there isn't anything more he needs to learn; I kinda tried explaining to him to the Priesthood and the importance of the Book of Mormon, but he wasn't really buying it 🤣; he was a pretty interesting guy but he was super nice!
Afterwards, we taught Laura Gladys about the Restoration (once again). We showed her President Nelson's message on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus and what we have received and what we have been blessed with because of the Restoration! We also went over the story of Joseph Smith with her and explained to her the importance of the Priesthood! She's been reading the Book of Mormon which is good! She still claims that she needs to learn more though! We'll keep visiting her with Hermana Kratzer! We ended the night by ministering to the missionaries in our District!
On Tuesday, we began the day by teaching Erika! She didn't have much time since she had to go check and see if her car had gotten fixed. Apparently, her car had broken down so that's why she hadn't been able to come to church the past couple of weeks! We went over the Restoration with her and helped her better understand the story of Joseph Smith! We also emphasized the importance of the Priesthood power and how and why it had to be restored! She didn't have much time, so we invited her to read the pamphlet that we had given her; after a couple more contacts, we took a "nap" during Spanish study since we were pretty tired! After that and daily contact, we went and knocked on some doors! We talked to a nice guy named Ramiro! He lived in front of Javier and Veronica's home! (They weren't home sadly). He had talked with missionaries before in the past, but we went over the Book of Mormon with him again and we explained how it powerfully testifies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I shared my testimony on the Plan of Salvation and how it allows us to grow, progress, and learn! He wasn't interested in meeting again, but we shared church information with him! It was a good contact for me regardless of the outcome! Afterwards, we went and tried to visit a couple people, but they were all busy 😪. We talked to a man named Fabian Lamaestro! He's been taught by missionaries for a while now but had been dropped since he had been so busy! He's from Argentina but he can speak both English and Spanish! His wife is from Argentina, as well! They were both pretty sick, but we planned another time to pass by!
Afterwards, we talked to some nice Oaxacan men named Marcelino and Villancio! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation and how our families can live together forever! We set up return dates with them! We ended the night by teaching English Class! I really love helping teach English Classes! I look forward to it every week! Elder Copeland
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